The Last of Us novelization
by Kody Gedge
Summary: Just something I've been working on for awhile. I'm still currently editing, and sorry for the bad formatting, it was optimized for .epub so I just pasted it from there.


**Hometown**

_(In the view of Joel)_

I shifted the car into park and massaged my aching brow. Today had seemed all too long and this headache was killing me. I couldn't wait to settle down and clear my mind.

I hopped out of the car and onto the front steps of the house as my cell phone rang in my pocket. I dug for the phone as I unlocked the door with my other hand.

"Hey, Joel? It's Tommy." a voice sounded from the speaker.

"Oh, hey, I'm not feeling too well right now, could I phone you back tomorrow?" I replied.

"Look, I've been waiting all day to talk to you about the house, we need to sort it out."

"Tommy, I-"

I flicked on the light switch and closed the door behind me.

"But Joel, we need to make sure he is who you say he is, and you need to-"

"Tommy. Tommy, listen to me. He is the contractor." I sighed. "He is the contractor, okay? I can't lose this job."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Sarah fast asleep on the couch.

"I know that, Joel. But we can't just-"

"I understand. Let's talk about this in the morning, okay?" I snapped, cutting him off.

If there was one thing about my brother, Tommy, it was that he could be a persistent bastard if he needed to be, but I loved him for it.

"We need to talk this out." he pleaded again.

"We'll talk about it in the morning." I confirmed without giving him another chance to speak. "Alright, goodnight."

I hung up the phone and tossed it onto the table. Sarah now yawned and sat up on the couch in her pajamas.

"Hey." she said, rubbing her eyes gently.

"Scoot," I grunted, motioning for her to move over on the couch and sat down.

"Fun day at work, huh?"

I readjusted myself on the leather couch and looked over at her. "What are you still doing up? It's late."

"Oh crud, what time is it?" she worried, looking at the clock.

"It's way past your bedtime-"

"-But it's still today!" she remarked, a smile stretching across her young face.

"Honey, please, not right now." I pleaded. She ignored me and crawled across the cushions to pull something out from underneath the couch. "I do not have the energy for this."

"Here." she said, smiling innocently as she handed over a small white box. I stared at her for a few seconds before taking it in my hands.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Your birthday."

I smirked but managed to keep a straight face as I popped the top off of the box. Inside was an expensive and sleek looking wristwatch.

"You kept complaining about your broken watch..." she explained. "So I figured, you know?"

I held up my left arm and secured the watch around my wrist.

"You like it?" she asked.

"Honey this is nice, but-"

"But what?" she asked.

"But I think it's stuck. It's not-"

She crawled over the couch in a panic and reached for my wrist. "What? No, no, no!"

Her wrinkles on her worried face smoothened and her lips formed a smile as she realized I was joking.

"Oh, ha, ha." she laughed and slinked back down on the couch.

"Where did you get the money for this?"

"Drugs." she laughed. "I sell hardcore drugs."

"Oh, good." I said, grabbing the TV remote and turning on the flatscreen. "You can start helping out with the mortgage then."

"Pfft, yeah, you wish."

I watched the end of my TV show with Sarah until she fell asleep. I picked her up off of the couch and carried her into bed. As I tucked her in, I stood over her and watched her sleep in her state of unconscious innocence. She reminded me so much of her mother with her delicate facial features and her beautiful blonde hair. I missed her more than anything, and and Sarah is all I have left between us. A flawless product of our love.

"Goodnight, baby girl." I whispered as I brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and turned off the light.

_(In the view of Sarah)_

I jolted awake as the phone rang on my nightstand. Groggily, I picked it up and answered.

"Hello?" I said into the heavy breathing of the speaker.

"Sarah, honey, I need you to get your Daddy on the phone."

"Uncle Tommy" I asked him. "what time is it?"

"I need to talk to your Dad now, there's someth-"

The line dropped dead as the dial tone rang in my ear. Something didn't feel right.

"Uncle Tommy?" I asked into the dial tone. "Hello?"

I hung up the phone and jumped out of bed as I made for the door. What was that all about? Uncle Tommy sounded like he was in serious trouble.

"Dad!" I called out into the hallway. He didn't reply.

I opened the door to the bathroom and poked my head inside, but he wasn't there. Maybe he was actually asleep for once. I doubted it, though, lately he hasn't been sleeping too well and I've been worried sick about him.

"Daddy?" I called out again as I neared his bedroom. The door was slightly ajar, illuminating a small ray of light from the TV through the crack of the door frame.

I could hear quiet voices talking amongst each other from behind the door. I pushed it open and walked inside. "Are you in here?"

The room was empty and messy. Only the TV was on bright and loud with the local news station. I walked to the edge of the bed and sat down to see what the flashing _breaking news_ on the screen was all about.

_-seem to be somehow connected to the nationwide pandemic. We've received reports that the victims inflicted with the infection show signs of increased aggression-_

"Where the heck are you..." I muttered under my breath, half paying attention to the news anchor. The news crew had to be nearby judging from the familiar coffee shop behind them.

The news anchor was forced to stop the broadcast as a man came up behind her. "We need to move everybody out of here now, there's a gas leak. Go, get out of-"

I felt a rumble from underneath my feet and the TV died off into static. From outside the window, a toxic combination of orange and black smoke rolled into the air of the night.

"Dad!?" I cried out again, this time almost praying he'd answer back.

I darted out of the room and down into the living room. Sirens could be heard outside, and looking out the window, multiple cruisers could be seen speeding by on the dirt road.

"Ugh, what is going on." I sighed.

A sudden noise startled me and I jumped back. I looked over to see what it was.

"There's his phone." I said under my breath. Dad had left his phone on the counter. It was strange because he never left to go anywhere without his cell phone in case I needed him. I turned it on to see 8 missed calls and multiple texts from Uncle Tommy. _Where the hell are you? Call me. On my way._

Car alarms and the neighbors dog's barking filled the air of the night. I felt scared, where the heck was Dad?

I walked towards his office and heard a shrill whine from outside. The barking had stopped, but the chaotic sounds of car alarms still kept their repeated patterns.

As I walked into Dad's office, he came stumbling through the sliding glass doors and fumbled with the lock behind him. He was panting for breath.

"There you are!" I called out, almost annoyed.

"Sarah!" he snapped. "Are you okay?!"

He turned around and dug through a drawer on his desk and pulled out a silver metal case.

"Yeah." I replied.

"Has anyone come in here?!"

"No... who would come in here?"

"Don't go near the doors, just... just stand back there."

I heard the soft, repeated clicks of metal. Dad had a gun in his hand.

"Dad, you're kind of freaking me out..." I quivered. "What's going on?..."

"It's the Coopers. Something ain't right with 'em." he said, looking back at me with a solemn stare. "I think they're sick."

"What kind of sick?" I asked, only to be answered by the pounding of fists on the glass door. It was our neighbor, Jimmy.

"Jesus!" My Dad yelled. "Jimmy!"

"Dad!" I screamed. I was scared from the look in Jimmy's bloodshot eyes. They were different from his usual friendly look. In fact, he looked different almost entirely. Paler, angrier, dirtier... all around just... _scarier._

"Honey, come here, come here!" Dad commanded as he pulled me behind him, keeping his hand on my shoulder and his gun steady with the other.

Jimmy kept bashing against the glass with his shoulder. What was wrong with him? Why did he want in so bad? Did he need help?

"Jimmy!" Dad yelled again. "Jimmy, just stay back!"

The glass door shattered into pieces of shiny shards and Jimmy flew inside and onto the floor. He got back up as fast as he could and stumbled towards us.

"Jimmy, I am warning you!" My Dad cried out, fear now prominent in his voice.

"Oh my God," I panicked. My heart was beating faster than I could count. I could feel it in my throat.

Jimmy was now starting to sprint towards us with his arms stretched outright. He was screaming.

"Don't!" my Dad yelled as a final warning before taking a shot.

The bullet tore through Jimmy's throat in a thick cloud of blood. I covered my eyes and looked away. Tears welled up in my eyes no matter how hard I tried to hold them back.

"Go." my Dad paused before shoving me. "Go!"

He dragged me into the kitchen and took me by the shoulders. "Sarah..."

"You..." I stuttered through tears. "You... _shot_ him. I saw him this morning..."

"Listen, Sarah," he said, ignoring me. "There's something bad going on. We have _got _to get out of here, do you understand me?"

"Yeah." I sniffled, looking down at the ground. Dad looked over his shoulder at the bright lights shining through the living room windows.

"It's Tommy. Come on!" he said and gently grabbed my wrist. "Come on."

"Okay." was all I could say as we headed for the door.

_(In the view of Joel)_

"Where the hell you been? You have any idea what's goin' on out there?"

Ignoring the frustration in Tommy's voice and kept walking to the sedan. I opened the door and helped Sarah get inside.

"I've got _some _notion." I scowled. "Come on, baby, go on in there. "

I closed the door and looked back at Tommy in front of the car, silently begging for an answer.

"Holy shit, you've got blood all over you..."

"It ain't mine, let's just get out of here." I replied, opening the passenger door and climbing inside. He took the hint and walked around the to driver's side.

"They're saying that half the people in the city have lost their minds."

"Can we just _please_ go?" I begged.

Jimmy hopped into the driver's seat and put on his seatbelt, shutting the door with a loud bang. "Some sort of parasite or somethin'."

Looking back over at me before popping the clutch, again he wondered why I was plastered in blood. "You going to tell me what happened?"

"Later." I rasped. I wanted to get the fuck out of here while we still could. After seeing the Cooper's, I didn't doubt if we were one of the last few who still had a chance.

The sedan backed up out of the driveway and Tommy looked behind him over his seat. "Hey Sarah, how you holding up, honey?"

"I'm fine." she replied, obviously lying to him. I could tell she was scared out of her mind. As mature as she was, this was the kind of shit nightmares were made out of. "Could we hear what's on the radio?"

"Yeah," Tommy replied and turned the nob to the local station. "Sure thing."

Only static was being received regardless of which station we tuned into. "No cell phone, no radio. Yeah, we're doin' great." Tommy said sarcastically. "Just a minute ago, the newsman wouldn't shut up."

"Did he say where to go?" I asked, looking out at the passing luscious foliage of the countryside.

"He said, uh... Army's puttin' up roadblocks on the highway." he sighed. "No gettin' into Travis County."

I shook my head. "That means we need to get the hell out. Take 71-"

"-71," he said in unison. "that's where I'm headed."

Police cruisers passed by and almost hit us as we turned onto the next road.

"Did they say how many are dead?" Sarah asked from the backseat. The words _dead _freaked me out.

"Probably a lot. Found this one family all mangled inside their house-"

"-Tommy!" I scowled. I thought he'd be smarter with Sarah around, regardless of the situation. She didn't need to hear any of that after seeing Jimmy get shot by her own father.

"Right." he apologized. "I'm sorry."

The road was eerily dark with only a little help coming from dim lights on the sides of the roads. They were practically useless from the little amount of light they gave off, but they were still better than nothing.

"Jesus Christ, how did this even happen?" I asked rhetorically.

"They got no clue, but we ain't the only town." Tommy mumbled. "At first they were saying it was just the South... now they're going on about the East Coast, West Coast..."

He trailed off as we looked at the glowing orange light in the middle of a field.

"Holy hell." Tommy gasped. "That's Louis's farm..."

The farm was on fire and crumbling piece by piece. The foundation was still standing tall even as the rest steadily burnt to the ground.

"I hope that son of a bitch made it out." Tommy said, turning his attention back onto the road.

"I'm sure he did." I said, giving some false optimism to the situation.

"Are we sick?" Sarah asked us.

"No. No, of course not." I said angrily.

"How do you know?"

"They said it's just, uh, people in the city. We're good." Tommy included.

"Didn't Jimmy work in the city?" Sarah asked.

"That's right." I paused as flashes of the bullet from my gun tearing into his neck played through my mind. "He _did_."

"We're fine, trust me." Tommy reassured with a smile.

Jimmy started to slow the vehicle down as we reached the top of the hill. At first, I thought like any cliche movie we had run out of gas until I noticed a couple with their child on the side of the road.

"Let's see what they need."

"What the hell do you think you're doin'? Keep drivin'." I commanded.

"They got a kid, Joel."

"So do we!"

"But we have room." Sarah said, clueless about the danger this posed. I wasn't about to take any damn chances.

The man on the road rushed to the side of the vehicle and waved his arms above his head. "Hey!"

"Keep driving, Tommy." I ordered, watching the man as we drove past. Watching him be left behind to wait for death.

I stared at Tommy as he made an estranged face. He laid his foot down on the gas.

The man stopped to catch his breath as his child grabbed his hand. "Stop!"

I sighed and looked over at Tommy staring ahead at the road through moist eyes.

"You ain't seen what I seen." I lectured. "Someone else'll come along."

"We should have helped them..." Sarah whispered. I ignored her and watched the oncoming ambulance in the other lane as we entered the city.

As we passed the hospital, hundreds of cars blocked the road in a jam, bumper to bumper. The red brake lights lit up the road as far as the eye could see. The only road out of town was jammed.

"Oh, this is bad." Tommy spat. "Everyone and their mother had the same idea."

A man stepped out of his car in front of us.

I stared at the man as I spoke. "Well, we could just backtrack and-"

"Hey, what the fuck, man!" the man screamed and waved his arms at the cars in front of him. "Let's go!"

I looked back at Sarah to see her sitting attentively on the seat. I smiled at her and she smiled back, only to fade into an expression of pure horror. I looked back to see the man being tackled to the ground by a another man in a gown. Another gown-dressed man sprinted into the open door and into the passenger side of the car, brutally killing the people inside. The look in their eyes gave away immediately that they were infected patients escaping from the hospital.

"Tommy," I called out, looking over at him. He was in shock, simply staring and watching the people being murdered feet in front of our car. "Tommy!"

"Holy shit!" he snapped and spun the car into reverse. The infected man shifted his attention to us and ran towards us, his gown flying behind him in the wind. Before we could pull away fast enough, he pounded on the window next to Sarah and left a bloody smear.

"What the fuck just happened?!" Tommy yelled. "What the fuck just happened?! Did you just see that?!"

"Yes, I saw it!" I confirmed.

"God damn..." Tommy said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Turn here, turn here!"

We turned onto a street full of a crowd of people sprinting past us. A motorhome was parked on the road leaving only minimal space in the oncoming lane.

"What are they running from?" Sarah asked.

"Get us out of here." I said briefly.

"I'm trying!" Tommy said.

More people came running from behind the motorhome.

"We can't stop here, Tommy!"

"I can't fuckin' drive through 'em, Joel-"

"-Then back up then!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

"They're behind me, too!"

There was a brief pause in the consistency of people and I screamed to Tommy. "There, there, there!"

"Hold on!"

"Go!" I yelled. I didn't give a shit if we hit someone, we needed to get out, and get out _now. _

We drove past the motorhome unable to see our blind spots. A car's tires squealed as it rammed into us and flipped us over onto our side.

"Look out!" Sarah shrieked.

"Daddy?" Sarah called out. I could hardly find enough strength to open my eyes. "Hey!"

"What..." I muttered as I opened my heavy eyes. Through the cracked windshield people could be seen running down the street in utter chaos.

"Get back, baby, get back." I said, placing my feet on the windshield. I kicked with all my power and popped the broken windshield out of place. Crawling out of the window, I leaned down to help Sarah out.

"Fucking run!" a man screamed as he ran past me and joined in with the crowd. I shook my head and grabbed Sarah's hand as I was pushed backwards into the sedan.

One of the infected had me pinned, but I managed to keep him at a safe distance by pushing him on his chest. His mouth was wide open, looking like a starved predator ready to feast on his meal.

He dropped to the ground with a thud as Tommy stood overtop of his body holding a brick. He nodded at me with a blank expression and we both stared at the body for a split-second before turning back to help Sarah.

I reached for her again as I held out my hand. "I'm here, baby, I'm here. Come on, give me your hand."

She came crawling out onto her feet, but fell almost instantly into my arms.

"What is it?" I asked.

"My leg hurts..." she winced.

"How bad?"

"Pretty bad."

"We're gonna' need to run!" Tommy said. I reached into the waistband of my jeans and pulled out the weighted revolver. I handed it over to him. Five shots. We had five shots left to keep us alive.

"You keep us safe." I demanded and picked Sarah up with both hands. "Come on, baby, hold on tight!"

We ran down the street into the disorganized crowd of people. I couldn't hear myself think in the chaotic communication between everyone.

_"He's dead!"_

_"Where's Sandra?!"_

_"Let's head back this way!"_

Sarah looked up at me and began to cry. "Daddy, I"m scared."

"Joel, watch out!" Tommy warned me as a person running beside me dropped to the ground with an infected person clawing at them. They began to smack them around like a piece of meat.

"Just keep your eyes closed, honey." I told her, keeping pace behind Tommy down the street.

We came down to a corner with a gas station. The squealing of tires pierced the air as it swerved out of control and drove into a gas pump. The station lit up in flames and was engulfed in thick black clouds of smoke.

People were looting and setting shops on fire. Families were burning alive. People were fighting each other. The infected were taking people out by the numbers. It was a nightmare. One big, giant fucking nightmare.

"Those people are on fire..." Sarah said, horrified.

"Don't look, Sarah."

"Why are they doing that?..."

"Just keep looking at me, baby!"

"Over there!" Tommy yelled, pointing past an abandoned firetruck. Two cars collided at the street corner as we passed. Neither car showed any signs of survivors.

"We're gonna' get out of this, I promise." I said, looking down at Sarah jumping in my arms.

At the end of the street, a police barricade was littered with crowds of infected people coming towards us at a jog. Cars on fire slowly rolled past.

"Go back! There's too many of 'em!" Tommy warned us. "This way! Through this alley!"

I turned around and saw Tommy in his faded red T-shirt holding the gate open. Other people passed by us as we ran through the gate, but nobody followed. Tommy closed it behind us and readied the revolver.

We passed an infected person ravaging a corpse. Before I could defend myself, it jumped up and lunged at me. Tommy kicked it to the ground, laid his foot on its throat, and shot it between the eyes. "Go!" he screamed. "He's dead, god damn it!"

"We're almost there, we're almost there, baby." I consoled Sarah again. She was shaking violently, I could feel her in my arms.

Sarah screamed and watched the fence beside us being shaken by more of the infected.

"They're gettin' through the fence!" Tommy yelled. "Keep goin', find a way outta' here!"

We ran into the outside patio of a bar. Infected dropped from the concrete walls behind us and we ran as fast as we could for the door. Tommy held it open for us for as long as he could before helping push us inside. Their angered screams were haunting.

Tommy held the door closed against half a dozen arms reaching out for him. He looked at me with the revolver down at his side. "Get to the highway!"

"What?" I asked in denial.

"Go- you got Sarah!" he explained. "I can outrun 'em!"

"Uncle Tommy!" Sarah sobbed.

"I _will_ meet you there!" I told him, almost coming out as an order.

"Hurry!"

I kicked open the backdoor across from him and headed outside. Another person ran by us before tripping and falling on their face, allowing the infected behind him to catch up. I ran like hell past them.

"Daddy, we can't leave him." Sarah said.

"He's gonna' be fine." I said, hopping over a worn down section of a brick wall in front of us and onto the muddy path below. I could see the highway up ahead past the hill on the trail.

"We're almost there." I assured her. I could hear the infected now behind me, picking up pace as I did.

"They're getting closer!" she screamed.

My feet were already going as fast as they could through the mud. I wasn't sure how much faster I could push myself without slipping.

A crashed ambulance was off to the side with its lights still flashing. To make it worse, one of the paramedics crawled out the wreck and held out his hand towards me. I'd be damned if I stopped for anybody at that moment.

I looked over my shoulder as I ran to the top of the sloped trail and saw the paramedic was infected as well. He joined in on the chase and I grunted as I pushed myself against the incline of the steel hill.

The top of the path lit up and bullets whizzed by me, ripping through the paramedic and the other infected person behind me. Both dropped lifelessly and rolled to the bottom, covered in mud.

"It's okay, baby, we're safe." I said to Sarah and looked back up at the man who now shone a flashlight into our eyes. "Hey! We need help."

"Stop!" he commanded. The voice sounded muffled but confident.

"Please, it's my daughter, I think her leg is broken-"

"Stop right there!" he barked again.

"We're not _sick_." I said, giving off a fowl look.

He lowered his gun and the light followed with it. I could see now he was in full military gear. The gas mask explained the muffling of his voice. It looks like they got to take all the precautions while we were the ones to suffer.

"Got a couple of civilians in the outer perimeter, please advise."

Sarah looked up at me. "Daddy, what about Uncle Tommy?"

"We're gonna' get you to safety and go back for him, okay?"

"Sir," the man hesitated. "there's a little girl. But-"

"Yes sir." the man sighed as he raised his rifle at me. I knew it was coming, but there was nothing I could have done differently.

"Listen buddy, we've just been through hell, okay? We just need- oh shit-"

The sound of his automatic rifle cracked from the barrel and cut through the air like a knife through butter. Sarah and I were thrown apart and we both screamed as we rolled down the muddy hill.

I groaned and rolled onto my back to see the soldier pointing his rifle at my face. In my defense, I raised my arm to block his flashlight. "Please don't..."

Blood flew into the air as the side of his head blew off. Tommy jogged over lowering the revolver. He and I didn't say a word to each other until he looked over at Sarah. "Oh no.."

I scurried over to her as fast as I could. I could hear her struggling to breath through tears. "Sarah?!"

I got overtop of her and moved her hands that were tightly clenched on her stomach. Blood was seeping through her shirt as she whimpered, barely clinging onto life as it was.

"Move your hands, baby," I told her as she tried to move them back. "I know, baby, I know!"

Her whimpering grew louder, she was in the most pain she'd ever felt before. I began to cry as well when I put pressure onto her wound. "Listen to me, I know this hurts, baby, you're going to be okay, stay with me!"

Nothing was helping to stop the bleeding. If she was going to survive, she needed help from a professional, and fast. "Alright, I'm going to pick you up!"

"I know, baby, I know it hurts!" I cried. There was no way I'd get her anywhere, the bleeding grew worse every time she struggled. "Come on baby, _please_! I know baby, I know!"

Her tears streamed down her face as she squirmed, unable to produce the words to describe the amount of pain she was in. I couldn't bare to see this anymore. The child I'd raised for twelve years to be in so much pain in front of me... it was too much to bare. I couldn't take it.

I looked back at Tommy who shared the same tears in his eyes as I did. Looking back, Sarah slowly stopped crying and the last tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Sarah?..." I sobbed. "Don't do this to me, baby, don't do this to me, baby girl! _Come on_!"

I began to break down as I held her lifeless body in my arms. Everything I cared about was dying in my arms. My reason to wake up and go to sleep, my reason to live, it was all dying. I promised her mother I'd take care of her and I fucked up. I fucked it all up.

"No, no..." I cried. "No, no, no, please... oh God!"

Tommy stood in the same spot, unable to speak or move. We were both paralyzed in shock.

"Please, please, _please _don't do this." I cried as I laid her head back down on the blood soaked soil.


End file.
